Monday, December 1, 2014

Oh, Canada! Please Keep The Liberals As The Loyal Opposition

I would think most people would want important decisions left in the hands of elected representatives and not in the hands of faceless bureaucrats. After all, a politician can be turned out of office while the bureaucracy lives on forever.

Not so the Liberal Party in Canada. They are quite upset that Stephen Harper and his Conservative government want to remove the power of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to make determinations on which firearms should be prohibited. As can be seen in the poster they put up on Facebook, they consider it "unacceptable".

“First, it eliminates the need for owners of prohibited and restricted firearms to have a transportation license to carry those guns in their vehicles. This means they could freely transport handguns or automatic weapons anywhere within their province, whether to a grocery store or a soccer field.

“Secondly, it would take the power to classify firearms out of the hands of the police – the experts in keeping Canadians safe – and put it in the hands of politicians like Stephen Harper. And it would allow those decisions to be made without Parliamentary approval or oversight.

Allow the Government to have the final say on classification decisions, following the receipt of independent expert advice.

This bill is, from what I can gather, a start. Neither the Coalition for Gun Control nor the National Firearms Association are altogether happy with Bill C-42. The former opposes the bill because it relaxes some gun control measures. The latter has decided not to endorse the bill because it doesn't address what they consider the many significant problems with Canada's firearms regulation. These include decriminalizing firearms possession, addressing regulations that classify firearms by their appearance, and eliminating the punitive safe storage requirements from the criminal code.

Like all bills reforming existing gun controls, it doesn't go far enough. However, if passed, at least Canada can say it is no longer the New Jersey of the North when it comes to firearms transport.

7 comments:

Printed ATTs will be eliminated, but the transport law will still be in effect. That is, a licensed gun owner must travel with a restricted firearm via the most reasonably direct route between residence and range, or residence and gunsmith--with the firearm trigger locked and case locked. Still, it's a move in the right direction.

We like Stephen Harper! He's a genuinely nice and "real" guy who stood talking with my wife on the bluff at Turtle Bay on Oahu, while me and his two kids (and half their security detail - Hi Ronald!) could take a surfing lesson. He's doing things rather quietly and mildly, that simply infuriate the Left-wing opposition, so good.

One thing: the NDP are actually the Official Opposition. They have like 100 seats compared to the Liberal's 35. And it's Bill C-68 (Firearms Act 1995, which was made by joint Liberal/Conservative efforts) that most Canadian firearm's owners take issue with; C-105, despite it increasing the controls that existed at that time, was better then the current firearms licensing regime. I still would prefer both gone, but hey, you take what you can get.

Well, that’s true that this highly responsible task of categorizing guns based on the level of danger they pose should be left to the police, and not politicians. One can imagine how complicated everything, particularly people’s safety, will become once firearm owners are allowed to carry guns anywhere they want. And then any decision that’s taken without the approval of the parliament is wrong, be it related to firearm licenses or gun control.